Nearly three quarters of Americans grumble about their service

We know that people generally love to complain, but for Americans and the carriers in the United States there seems to be plenty of reasons that support those complains. In a recent survey of 2,000 Americans, the Pew Research Center found out that an alarming majority of customers experienced often severe issues with their carrier networks.

First, the survey found that 88% of participating adults had cell phones. We’re actually surprised by that very first number - 12% with no phone at all seems like a pretty high number.

What’s more worrisome is that 72%, or almost three-quarters, have gone through a dropped call here and there. For nearly a third dropped calls happen on a fairly regular basis of "at least a few times a week." Interestingly, smartphone owners experienced less dropped calls and only 35% complained about the issue.

The other huge issue plaguing phone users is marketing calls. Almost two thirds of phone owners were bothered with marketers making their pitch, and for a quarter of users this happened a couple of times a week. Annoying! What’s your biggest grumble about your phone, carrier network and the world in general?

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This is not for thumbs up..........My biggest complaint is I cant seem to find the right smartphone for me that I will want to keep for at least another year and half.....The phones with really great specs are all honestly too damn big or missing some key component, like non removable battery or its on the wrong carrier(verizon specificallly) lol verizon has all the best phones IMO....but yea im looking for a great 4.3 in phone from sony TBH but with updated specs like the S4 processor for starts.....Sony's phones are great but somehow they seem (like every other manufacturer) to leave out certain things that just KILL it for me.... SOO yea thats my only complaint

yep, unforntunately Im looking for one on at&t :(
the incredible 4g lte is exactly the type of phone I'd get on if it were on at&t. Like gcombs said beneath, "all the good phones are exclusives" and hes right, They are....

I'm not even going to respond to that question in anger....But i will say that having "baby hands" has nothing to do with it...Phones are getting bigger and bigger yet my hands remain the same size, and im sure your hands are too....peace bro

I agree. I wish we could have custom smartphones built like we can have custom computers built. I would love a smartphone with 4.3" HD AMOLED + screen, Tegra 3, Verizon LTE (I know the two are incompatible without a separate, battery hogging modem), Global capabilities, NFC, 2 GB ram, 64 GB internal memory, Micro SDXC compatible, Black front bezel, interchangeable back covers (Bright green, Cyan, Red), waterproof, and can be run over by a tank.

OOOOO yea that is definitely one of the things I was thinking about!! for sure! Like the new motorola photon q for instance......I thought about seriously getting it...but it not only has a locked sim and non removable battery, its also only on SPRINT..... :/ thats some lame stuff man

I'm pretty happy with AT&T. I always have coverage ( except in the mountains, but that is expected). I don't drop calls, and the speeds I get on HSPA+ are really good, consistently get 4-6 mpbs on my iPhone. I'm grandfathered in the unlimited data, so I'm also really happy about that.

Take this survey with a pinch of salt as from experience in the industry most customers are never satistified,they always want better reception,cheaper prices,way faster than contrtact allows upgraded,phones with 5 day battery life,phone which should go faulty even if it 3 years old etc!

true... i work for a telco company and customer think
1) better reception is a reasonable expectation for customers... hell my company claims to be spending zillion dollars for coverage on LTE!!!
2) cheaper prices - yeah i want it always
3) flimsy reasons to get out of contract - "my phone is lost, i want to cancel my contract"... i m receiving calls from unknown people, cancel my contract... list goes on...
4) my phone has no problem, it cannot download data on it's own... i never used so much!!! basically i have a smartphone but i m not

I think that the American consumer has heard too many times, "The customer is always right." They (speaking generally of course) no longer understand that in a marketplace or economy, the only true currency is desire and means. The consumer wants cell phone service, discounted handsets, data access, and who knows what else. The carriers have the means to provide these and they desire reimbursements so they can continue to offer said service. Both parties come to a mutual agreement. That is how a deal is made or a contract is negotiated and that is what happens, but the consumer wants to believe that they are being imposed upon by their service providers. I think that if all the carriers joined together and turned off service for even just one day, customers would grow a greater appreciation for their providers and the service they offered!

Obviously they aren't on the Verizon network with a Motorola phone. I've never experienced any of these issues. With the largest Lte network in the country and with the best radios you can put in a phone Verizon and Motorola make a great combination.

well how do u explain the no service on my bfs droid razr maxx were he works at and his moms house in santa monica ? He is on the verizon network LOL and the searching, no service on his razr maxx were he works at on the 40th floor in dwtwn LA? its not his phone he switched it 2 times works great outside only in those two places he gets no service. I let him borrow my xperia ion on at&t (which btw was a mistake cuz he dnt wanna give it back) and he called me the other day and was all like hun guess were im calling u from? im all like i dnt know he was all like im in an moving express elevator going up to the 60th floor he was like a lil kid cuz at&t had service in his building in every floor and elevators were as verizon dont before he was never able to call me from the elevator with his razr cuz he said it would always be searching. so yeaa

well your are in ohio i am i claifornia those are 2 different states reception varies by location. When i put my att phone next to my bf's verizon phone i always have better reception and less dropped calls all over california in san fran, san diego, sacramento, san jose , visalia, adelanto, redlands, u name we have been up and dwn cali by car and even hes been shocked how i had less dropped calls and better data on at&t than him on verizon so..

It's called the not having a tower close by. I work in a building with ATT towers around and on top of my place of employment. I was a Sprint and now T-mobile user, neither sprint nor t-mobile had very good signal. The reason is the distance from the nearest tower to my place of employment and signal traveling through man made obstructions (concrete and steel). This cause signal issues, now ATT users has no issues at all.

People grumble about the most idiotic things sometimes. This is wireless transmission folks. Obstructions and other anomaly can degrade signal, thus causing dropped calls and data access issues. It happens and is a fact of life nothing is perfect. Be gald that you are not using sat phones, it can be ass at times....

12.InspectorGadget80 (unregistered)

My points exactly. Getting sick n tired of all these carriers keep getting deals. Like Sprint/Verizon have the Galaxy NEXUS. I also have to wait for 3 yrs on at&t to end their greedy deal with Apple to buy a Android phone. Also hate them for changing price plans. Other wise thats my only complaint. all phones should be on every carrier then everyone will be happy.

Its called capitalism, these greedy deals that you speak of yield much needed revenue dollars that allow for further development. Without their exclusive deal with apple, AT&T would never have made the profits that they did, and reinvested into all of the network advancements that they have. If you want a phone badly enough, you can still get it, you either will just have to pay an early termination fee, or buy it at full retail price and likely pay visa or mastercard the interest instead of your carrier.

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